Troy

We just finished watching Troy.  It took us two nights, but even so, I was surprised to find it was a good movie.  I enjoyed it much more than reading The Iliad because the creators of the movie accomplished a rare feat: proper modernization of a classic.  The story is mostly the same, and what was changed just makes the conclusion more satisfying.  The gods do not participate, but belief in them plays a role in mortals' motivation.  The battle scenes are not gratuitous and serve to advance the plot, while being quite thrilling to watch.  There is no cynicism or self-mockery in the movie at all - it takes itself seriously.  Each character is unique and you can understand the motivation for all of their actions.  The central conflict is between two good men, not good versus evil, which is an important element to me, as I've written before.  And somehow, the creators of this movie essentialized the story so well that I actually found the plot compelling.  Homer left me cold in comparison.

I wish Achilles had been played by somebody other than Brad Pitt.  As Adam said as the movie began, it's getting harder and harder to watch a movie with him in it because of what we know about him as a celebrity.  Ditto Tom Cruise.  Maybe we need to stop watching The Soup so we can enjoy our movies more.